“The Church doesn´t want to engage in proselytism because the Church does not grow on proselytism, it grows on attraction, as Benedict said”
The above is from the interview. Which leads me to a few questions.
Is “proselytism” translated with the same connotation in Spanish as it is in English? If not how does it differ?
If the answer is yes is the Pope spurning the Gospel’s call to “Preach the Gospel to all nations”?
I find it hard to believe that Pope Emeritus Benedict set up proselytism and pastoral care as an either or proposition.
Is Pope Francis saying the Church should compromise on Truth in order that people who need healing from sin will be more attracted to her and therefore hear the message of Salvation? This bothers me, if that is the conclusion we can draw from his words.
Proselitismo is the same. I don’t know where Pope Francis got this supposed “quote” from BXVI, who may have said it referring to a particularly limited circumstance, but the current Pope has taken to selectively quoting BXVI - a fragment here, a fragment there, and often from obscure early works which were less precise - in order to confuse his critics.
Kasper did that by citing an early 1970’s text by Ratzinger where he considered the possibility of admitting remarried divorced people to communion, a position that he abandoned once he thought more about it and certainly rejected as mature theologian and Pope. That’s why when he recently republished his early writings, BXVI removed this section and in his introduction specifically discussed the reasons for doing so.
In other words, the current Pope is also being less than honest.